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Friday, February 15, 2013

I should have posted this yesterday, since the name is rather fitting for Valentine's Day...

I’ve been hearing great things about Loving Hut’s vegan food for awhile now – but because I haven’t been spending much time in Manhattan lately (living and working in Queens makes me too lazy to cross the river sometimes), it took me until now to give the place a try.

The restaurant is tiny, but the staff are friendly and the menu is amazing!
Of course, I ordered the veggie burger – but I also got a small order of macaroni and cheese, because mostly-giving-up-dairy has made me eager to seek out the good vegan macaroni and cheese (which is harder to come by than veggie burgers).

There are three burgers to choose from on the menu – I got the “crispy vegan burger”, which comes topped with tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, guacamole, romaine lettuce, and onion. Lovely fresh, crisp toppings. And the guacamole was perfect (why don’t more restaurants offer guacamole instead of sliced avocado? Everyone knows avocado slices just slip out of the bun when you try to eat them on a burger!)

The patty itself was a tasty blend of rice, carrots, grains (the menu specifies oats), and probably some other ingredients I couldn’t distinguish. Unfortunately, it was a little TOO crispy (I know, I know – I did order the “crispy vegan burger” – but this was more crispy-overcooked than crispy-crunch-awesome). The bun was a tasty, soft whole wheat bun – but a bit oversized for the patty.

The burger was served with a side salad.

This is a “SMALL” order of the mac and cheese! I couldn’t finish it. Pretty good, although heavily tasting of Daiya – I still prefer my homemade vegan mac, but this was warm and comforting.

Now that I’ve tried the veggie burger, I am looking forward to coming back to sample more of the vegan food on the menu (seriously, take a look at this menu, it is epic! They even have multiple kinds of macaroni and cheese!). Plus, it’s close to Penn Station – which I wish I had realized the last dozen times I took a train or bus out of the city. Next time I will be sure to stop and pick up some food for the trip.

Loving Hut’s website says they have a Brooklyn location “coming soon”, as well as locations in 20 different countries and more locations across the U.S. – including two in Hawaii, where I will be next week!